And all of the places I ain't ever been to

In my twenties, I worked in a coal mine as a utility laborer. Primarily, my duties consisted of shoveling spilled coal along beltlines, feeders and tailpieces. Occasionally, when large pieces of rock fell off the belt, a sledgehammer was necessary to break them up into smaller pieces. For a wiry small person, I felt strong and healthy but beyond this, when work was over for the shift, it was forgotten until the next round.

Since then and for nearly 40 years, I’ve been an engineer/IT manager sitting at a desk. While it has paid me well, I find that even with several hours of yoga per week and increased weekend activity, my blood pressure has been steadily climbing. Of course it is partially genetic as my both my parents were hypertensive. With this job, I alone am responsible for keeping a mess of aging computer hardware running when I’d rather be cutting down trees, mowing grass, or digging ditches. At this age, while there is no chance of competing with my twenty-something self, I am ready to find more physical exertion and the lowered-stress of tackling discrete self-directed projects in which I can revel. Of course there is no guarantee that I’ll live to my planned retirement in a little over a year, but I certainly do look forward to it – and that in itself is a good thing.